1930s the great depression lecture 3
Post on 20-Oct-2014
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Hard Times Hit America
On October 29, 1929, also known as "Black Tuesday," 16.4 million shares of stock were sold, compared to 4 to 8 million on a normal day.
Stock market collapse strains banks BANKS FAILMany people had entrusted savings in banks
Banks vulnerable to “runs”Run = when a depositor rushes to withdraw savingsRuns could drain banks of cash reserves, force it to
closeOct. 1929 –runs led to closing of hundreds of banks
By Dec. 1930 almost 350 banks had closedIncluded Bank of U.S. (400,000 depositors)
By 1933 bank failures wiped out billions of dollars in savings
Insurance from the federal government protects people’s deposits in the event of bank failure
Laws require banks to keep greater % of its assets in cash to be paid out to depositors on request
Life for farmers only got worse
Joblessness and poverty reduced American’s ability to buy food
Farmers were producing more than they could sellPrices sankFrom 1929 to 1933 –
prices down 50%+ Lower prices = lower
income
Farmers had borrowed $ for land, equipmentIncomes dropped, unable to make loan
payments1933 – 364,000 farms went bankrupt /
suffered foreclosureFORECLOSURE:
OCCURS WHEN A BANK OR OTHER LENDER TAKES OVER OWNERSHIP OF A PROPERTY FROM AN OWNER WHO HAS FAILED TO MAKE LOAN PAYMENTSRecent housing crisis
Drop in economic activity = huge rise in unemployment
By 1933 GNP dropped more than 40%
Unemployment reached 25%Over 12 millionIn Harlem
unemployment = 50%
"I remember standing in the welfare line somewhere on Michigan Avenue where they were passing out sweaters for children" -Richard Waskin
"The newspapers were full of news about bank closings, business failing, and people out of work...We were in debt with no way out" -Carmen Carter
Millions of people lost jobsHad to compete for
workSlid into poverty
Begged door to door to survive, soup kitchens, breadlines
Federal government programs to help poor didn’t existOnly 1 in 4 families
got relief
W/out jobs & money, American’s lost their homesEvicted people who couldn’t pay rentBanks foreclosed on homeowners
Neighborhoods of shacks sprang up to house the newly homelessHoovervilles – symbolized blame on Hoover
Unemployed workers sold whatever they couldPencils, apples, etc.
Hoboes = homeless wanderersMostly men
Young and unattached OR left families they couldn’t support
Hopped moving trains and traveled from town to town looking for workDangerous and ILLEGAL
Begged for foodAttempts sometimes met with violenceDeveloped sign language which indicated an
opportunity or a place to avoid
People saw their unemployment as personal failurePride, didn’t want to
accept handoutsIdleness led to deep
feelings of uselessness, despair
Suicide rates shot upAngry the nation had
failed its hardworking citizens
1931 – Great Plains region entered into droughtPeriod of below
avg. rainfall - long, severe dry spell
Lasted several years
Drove people out of the region
Careless agricultural practices and extremely dry conditions caused dust stormsBlew soil hundreds of
milesChoked cropsBlew inside homesWreaked destruction
OK, KS, CO, NM, TX became known as the DUST BOWL
Ended farmers career and means of incomeForced to move
End of 1930’s, over 2.5 million people left Great PlainsMany migrated
towards CaliforniaMigrants were
called OKIESMigrants often met
with resistance & discrimination
The plight of migrants captured attention of American artists and writersJohn SteinbeckWoody Guthrie
“It’s a might hard row my poor hands have hoed;
My poor feet have traveled this hot dusty road
Out of your dustbowl and westward we rolled
Your desert was hot and your mountains were cold.
I’ve worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes,
Slept on the ground by the light of the moon
On the edge of your city you’ve seen us and then,
We come with the dust and we’re gone with the wind.” - Woody Guthrie
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